1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a facsimile machine for printing received image data on cut sheets of paper.
2. Prior Art
A facsimile machine is used to transmit image data representing a document comprising one or more pages, to another facsimile machine over a communication line, such as a telephone line, or to receive image data from another facsimile machine and print the image. In facsimile machines which have been in widespread use, printing is made on paper unwound from a paper roll, and the paper is thereafter cut into sheets with lengths corresponding to the lengths of the respective pages of the received document. In another type of facsimile machine which is becoming popular, use is made of a paper cassette containing cut sheets, which are extracted one by one, and the image is printed on the cut sheets.
A prior-art facsimile machines of the latter type is typically provided with a paper cassette slot in which a paper cassette containing cut sheets of paper of different sizes, e.g., a letter size and a legal size, can be removably loaded. A plurality of paper cassettes may be provided and can be selectively loaded according to the size of the sheets of the document of which image data is transmitted from another facsimile machine.
When however the image data of a document page longer than the sheets which are currently loaded is received, part of the image data that has overflowed the first sheet is printed on the next sheet. That is, the image data that is in a single page in the original document is divided into two sheets. This is inconvenient, particularly where the image data contains a picture or a table.